Former Lincoln City midfielder Justin Walker has joined the backroom staff at World Champions Chelsea, as part of Liam Rosenior’s switch to Stamford Bridge.
Chelsea confirmed the 41-year-old Rosenior as their new head coach on a five-and-a-half-year deal, with the option of a further season, and he has brought three trusted staff members with him from French side Strasbourg, part of the BlueCo multi-club ownership group.
For Imps supporters, the standout name is Walker, whose journey from Sincil Bank to the Premier League is one of the more understated success stories of recent years. Walker made more than 300 Football League appearances as a player and remains fondly remembered in Lincoln for his spell in red and white, which came at a challenging time in our history.
Following his playing career, Walker moved into coaching with Derby County’s academy in 2009, steadily building his reputation behind the scenes. He was promoted into the first-team setup under Phillip Cocu, before becoming part of a caretaker management team that also included Rosenior. That relationship has proven pivotal, with Walker following Rosenior to Hull City in November 2022 and then to Strasbourg in July 2024.
Now, that path has led all the way to Stamford Bridge, with Walker joining Chelsea as an assistant coach. A UEFA Pro Licence holder, he arrives with experience across academy development, first-team environments, and multi-club structures, credentials that align closely with Chelsea’s evolving model.
Rosenior will initially watch from the stands when Chelsea face Fulham at Craven Cottage on Wednesday, before taking his first training session on Thursday ahead of Saturday’s FA Cup third-round tie against Charlton. Walker will be alongside him as preparations begin.
Also making the move are Kalifa Cisse, who joins as a first-team coach after previously working with Rosenior at Strasbourg, and analyst Ben Warner, another long-time Rosenior collaborator dating back to their time at Derby County and Hull City. Both can be noted additions, but for Lincoln City supporters the significance lies firmly with Walker’s continued rise.
Credit LCFC
Walker at Lincoln
He arrived at Sincil Bank in the summer of 2000 as part of Alan Buckley’s rebuild, and for a while it felt like a genuinely astute piece of business. Fresh from a solid Football League career that included promotion with Scunthorpe United in 1999, the Nottingham-born midfielder brought class, vision, and bite to City’s midfield. He had played more than 90 games at Glanford Park, joined the Imps on a free, and from the outset looked every inch a leader. Supporters took to him quickly, and by the end of the 2000/01 season, he had been voted Player of the Season, a reflection of both his quality and his influence during a campaign that flirted with danger but ultimately ended in survival.
Walker made 53 appearances that year, dictating play from the centre of the pitch with composure and drive, yet there was always an odd sense that trouble lurked off the field, not with Walker, but the club. The following season began steadily enough under Buckley, and a thunderous Walker strike against Carlisle delivered what would prove to be our final league win for months. Despite being one of the standout performers across two turbulent seasons, Walker was released in the summer of 2002, his Lincoln spell ending as abruptly as it had begun.
From there, his playing career took on an almost mythical quality. Exeter City came first in 2002, and finished bottom of the Football League. A move to Cambridge United followed, a side that had narrowly missed the play-offs the previous year, and again relegation arrived on his watch. Even a loan spell at York City followed the same script, with a promising position dissolving into the drop. Cambridge’s visit to the Bank in February 2005 came with just three wins all season, Walker played, and Cambridge went down. Chester City finally broke the pattern in 2005, surviving League Two by the skin of their teeth, but Walker was released anyway. Brief stints at Ilkeston and FC Halifax followed, and by then, the playing days were winding down.
Football, though, has a habit of circling back. Years later, Walker has re-emerged on the elite touchlines, carrying lessons learned the hard way on crap pitches and in scrappy encounters.